Feeling Stuck? Try This Gentle Approach to Moving Forward
I feel like a lot of us have been feeling tired recently. As I sit here recording this, we are midway through February 2025, and the last few months have been a lot. I keep hearing from people that they feel stuck, exhausted, and drained. Honestly, I feel it too. This morning, I woke up feeling unmotivated and emotionally exhausted. I’m usually up early, productive, and moving through my day, but today, I lingered in bed longer than usual.
Instead of judging myself for not getting up right away, I chose to accept it. I acknowledged that this was what I needed, and I allowed myself to lean in. Sometimes, acceptance is the first step toward moving forward.
Mindful Acceptance and Gentle Movement
As I laid in bed, I noticed the sounds around me—some distracting, some frustrating. But instead of resisting, I let them be. I took my time, and by around one o’clock, I finally got up and ate something. That small action gave me a little more energy. Then, knowing that I wanted to record this video and share my thoughts, I decided to take additional small steps toward feeling better.
I meditated, checking in with the part of me that was struggling. I reassured myself that my feelings were valid. I then took a nice, relaxing bath. And here I am now, sharing this process with you, because I know I’m not alone in feeling this way.
Small Wins Matter
Sometimes, getting unstuck isn’t about making big leaps—it’s about tiny, gentle steps. If you’re struggling to get out of bed, don’t pressure yourself to commit to an intense exercise routine or a massive to-do list. Instead, celebrate the little wins.
- Got out of bed? Good job!
- Brushed your teeth? Look at you go!
- Made yourself a meal? That’s amazing!
When we shift our mindset to recognize these small victories, we start to generate momentum. That energy builds on itself, making it easier to take the next step and then the next.
Shifting Your Mindset
Einstein once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same attitude that created it.” When we feel stuck, sometimes all we need is a slight shift in perspective. Even if it feels forced at first, that’s okay. Just trying something different can open the door to new solutions and fresh energy.
A Poem on Being Human
As I was gathering my thoughts, I opened my journal and found a poem I wrote years ago in an airport. It felt fitting to share:
Being Human
This human experience is so strange. It’s so challenging for everyone, it seems. The bodies of individuals are so different and so easily taxed by the pressures and temptations of society. Big and small, it’s felt by all.So much suffering, unseen and unspoken. Speaking out for one’s own experience can be judged by the next person. They might be friend, foe, or even a family member, and it cuts deeper the more love is shared between those people.
Clear, open communication can feel sparse. For some, almost inaccessible. Sometimes it’s less the language idioms that separate us, as it is the neighborhoods that we might have come out of, the socioeconomic position, or trauma state. These all lessen the likelihood that your words will be received and thoughtfully understood or responded to.
Such suffering is this, that it pries not only our most intimate connections apart, but our schools, our cities, our souls. The whole world is divided because compassionate discourse is like the rarest commodity, being widely unknown and unsought. The most precious gem is connection.
The Power of Connection
I share this with you uncut and real because I want to remind you: it’s okay to be yourself. It’s safe to be you. The key to moving forward when we feel stuck is connection—starting with ourselves.
If we can connect with ourselves, we can extend that to something outside of us. It doesn’t have to be another person right away; it can be nature, a pet, or simply the world around us. Moving out of that frozen, stuck state begins with letting go of the story our minds are telling and instead being kind to our bodies, allowing movement at whatever pace feels right.
Today, I let myself move at my own pace, and now, after sharing this with you, I’m going to take another small step—I’m going for a walk. It’s been cold lately, but the sun is out, and I know that will help me feel even better.
Wherever you are in this moment, know that you are okay. And if you feel like you need extra help, I’m here. Feel free to reach out through my website, and together, we can find ways to help you move forward—even if it’s just one small step at a time.
Take care, and be gentle with yourself. You’re doing great.
Full Transcript
I feel like a lot of us have been feeling tired recently. Upon this recording, we are midway through February in 2025, and there’s a lot been going on for the last few months, and I feel like I’ve been hearing from a lot of people saying that they feel stuck, tired, and I feel tired today because I was feeling a little bit stuck this morning. I was kind of less motivated and a little exhausted emotionally, and I’m used to being up really early and very productive, and so for me to sleep in or lay in and be awake is just not my norm, and so instead of going into some kind of judgment cycle about that towards myself, I just accepted that that was what I needed, and so I just took the time to lean in.
Hearing sounds, it’s a little distracting. Sometimes that’s part of acceptance, mindful acceptance, noticing our own distraction, our own frustration even, letting that be okay. So yeah, in this lazy morning, I took a good long time until about one o’clock before I actually got up and ate anything, and then I felt a little bit more energy, and then because I knew I wanted to record this video, I decided, well, let’s do some more nice things for myself.
So I did a little meditation, and I got to check in with the part of me that was having some feelings, so I got to reassure that part of me that it’s okay, that those feelings belong, and then I went and had a nice bath, and here I am, and the reason that I’m explaining this to you is because sometimes getting unstuck just requires a little bit of acceptance, and then from there a little bit of gentle movement, and sometimes when we think about movement, we might try to go too far from where we’re at, where I’ve heard people say things like, I want to get up every morning and go for a walk. That’s a great goal, but if you’re struggling to walk from your bed to the bathroom, then you kind of need to just let that peace be enough for at least a little bit, and you can kind of have fun with this too. That little bit of movement can truly be that moment when you actually get up out of bed, even if it’s because you’ve waited to the point that you just have to, but either way, here I am.
I’m up as soon as you stand up. I did it. I got out of bed.
Good job. Good job, self. And then piece by piece, okay, I’m brushing my teeth.
Look at me go. I’m getting there. I’m doing this thing.
I’m living this life, and it’s that way of looking at life where there’s just these little wins and where something that seems like maybe it’s not a big deal is allowed to be a big deal, then you can actually generate energy off of that, and there’s momentum, and then you can just kind of keep going with that. So that would be my advice to anyone who might be feeling stuck. Do what you can and try to let that be enough, and just try it on for a little while and see if a little bit more energy shows up, a little bit more motivation, some fresh ideas.
Einstein said that you can’t solve a problem with the same attitude that created it. So shift your mindset, even if it’s just slightly, even if it feels like you’re completely making it up. That’s okay.
At least it’s different. And see. Do solutions follow? So as I was sitting here deciding how I might go about this talk, I opened up my journal that I have sitting next to me here, and I write quite a bit.
I find journaling to be really helpful, and sometimes I write poems, and so I actually opened the book to this poem that I wrote a few years ago when I was in the airport, and it seemed fitting, so I decided I would read it to you. So here we go. This is called Being Human.
This human experience is so strange. It’s so challenging for everyone, it seems. The bodies of individuals are so different and so easily taxed by the pressures and temptations of society.
Big and small, it’s felt by all. So much suffering, unseen and unspoken. Speaking out for one’s own experience can be judged by the next person.
They might be friend, foe, or even a family member, and it cuts deeper the more love is shared between those people. Clear, open communication can feel sparse. For some, almost inaccessible.
Sometimes it’s less the language idioms that separate us, as it is the neighborhoods that we might have come out of, the socioeconomic position, or trauma state. These all lessen the likelihood that your words will be received and thoughtfully understood or responded to. Such suffering is this, that it pries not only our most intimate connections apart, but our schools, our cities, our souls.
The whole world is divided because compassionate discourse is like the rarest commodity, being widely unknown and unsought. The most precious gem, is connection. Thanks for bearing with me through that, I stumbled a little bit.
I hope you didn’t notice too much. So, I’m sharing this with you, like all my videos, uncut, because I want to show up authentically with you. I want to be real, to help you to see that it’s safe to be real, it’s safe to be you.
And that the way for us to feel like we can keep going, is through connection. But that we have to begin with connecting with ourselves. And if we can connect with ourselves, we can then carry that forward into connecting with something else.
And it doesn’t immediately have to be with another human being. It can be with a pet, it can be with nature. But drawing ourselves out of this freeze state, if you will, where we feel stuck, like we can’t get anywhere, that comes from letting go of the story that the mind is telling.
And being kind to the body, and moving at the degree that feels safe for us. So that we can begin building some forward momentum. And I’m so glad that I allowed myself to go into this process today, so that I could share it with you.
And so here I am connecting with you, which is really just me talking to myself. And now I’m going to go for a walk, because I think I really need some sun. It’s been so cold here recently, and there’s sun out there.
I think that would help me. And so I hope that you find this information useful to your experience. And just remember that there’s no stuck that’s never gotten unstuck before, one way or another.
And so it’s going to be okay. Wherever you are, you’re okay. And if you feel like you need some extra help, I’m right here.
And feel free to reach out to me through my website. And maybe we can find some way to start helping you to move a little bit. All right, take care.
Thank you. Bye.
